Linear RP thread - Introductions. [Through the Looking Glass]

[ShadowDragon8685]

Simple idea: Since we're building our introductions off of each other, why not keep them in one thread, so that once we've all posted our introductions, we can continue to build off of them?


By all means, you can post your introduction to yourself in your character's thread, but it'd be nice if you'd copypasta in a reply to this, too.

Returning from collecting knives, kitchen utensils, and whatever metal objects he could find, Pete sets the small hoard next to the Twilight – Jason, was it? – and sits down to watch the literally magical transformations the Solar would produce. He looked about the room, and through the building’s windows, as the others went about their own collecting, or meditating, or whatever they felt was important. He scratched absently at the back of his head, his palm brushing the wing of… the Crown of Thunders?
What the hell is going on? He thought to himself. This is impossible! This can’t really be happening.


Mentally, he reviewed the events of the last couple hours: sitting in the living room, randomly surfing the internet as Andrea watched Harry Potter; being yanked through some kind of tunnel or hole; being in a room with these others, then chased by giant, floating shrimp-cockroach things; the fight; solving some kind of riddle; the cannon firing; Exalting – yeah, that’s right, Exalting; finding artifacts – the Crown of Thunders for crying out loud! – and hearthstones; running up more than a half-mile of stairs, more than twice the CN tower; the mountain overlook; watching a spell being shaped – that was amazing; traveling on the Cirrus Skiff to that beautiful jungle clearing; the fight with the clam; respiring Essence; exploring the village; the argument; watching the Twilight shape their cloaks, and now his weapons…


He shook his head, absently, letting his hand fall back to his side. He looked at his new clothes, royal blue and gold, a tunic, pants, a cloak. And black leather boots.


I can feel Essence. I know Charms. I … *know* that I am an Eclipse. I could swear this is a dream, but I know it isn’t. None of this makes any sense.


He started to speak, to everyone present, and yet to no one in particular, “I know this is going to sound insane, but if you’ll all pardon a little rambling, I want to work out what the hell I think is going on. By all appearances, we are a Circle of Solar Exalted – two Dawns, two Eclipses, two Twilights, a Night, and a Zenith. We are either in the Wyld – a Waypoint or something – or a spirit’s Sanctum. I think it’s obvious that something is watching us, something with seemingly absolute control over this island, alternately shaping either challenges or gifts for us.â€


He paused.


“So, yeah, we are in the world of Exalted. A game. Except that it’s real.†He thought back to his youth, and watching the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, thinking how great it would be to find himself in that world, like the characters in the show. He couldn’t deny the thrill he felt at the potential futures ahead of him. “I know how crazy and impossible that sounds, but … well, it doesn’t matter how crazy and impossible it sounds. Things are the way they are. And we need to be able to face our new reality.â€


He took a deep breath to center himself, looking at those around him as he did so.


“Our recent argument revealed a few things about us. First, we need to have a plan of action, rather than just haphazardly knee-jerk reacting to one set of events after another. A simple plan would be to rely on our Caste roles to address the problems we face, to stick together unless it’s absolutely necessary to split up, and to communicate to everyone else what we’re thinking so that we don’t fall back to knee-jerk reactions based only on us as individuals. I know that someone proposed appointing someone as ‘leader’, but I think we can operate more effectively through consensus.


“Second, for that plan to work, we need to trust each other; and while none of us even know each other, we have to learn who we are, and what we can expect from each other. To that end… I’ll tell you all a bit about me, and how I think I fit into that plan I just mentioned.


“My name is Pete. If you’re ever been on the White Wolf forum or the ECR forum, you might recognize me by my screen name – Howling Coyote. Frankly, I think that sounds like a better name in Creation than ‘Pete’, and I’ll probably be going by that name rather than my past ‘real’ name.


“I – and all of you, I’d expect – have been playing Exalted for several years, and I’m going to phrase what follows by referring to specific game terms. I recognize that I’m an Eclipse Caste Solar. I recognize your Castes as well. My skills, much better than before I Exalted, focus on Melee, particularly with swords,†he gestures at the swords being shaped by the Twilight, “on Integrity, Dodge, Craft, and Presence, in addition to my Caste skills. I know my Charms, after meditating on them in the jungle clearing. I know a physical perfect defense, a shaping perfect, and a social combat perfect – Seven Shadow Evasion, Integrity Protecting Prana, and Elusive Dream Defense. I know a flurry-breaker – Leaping Dodge Method. I know three Excellencies – the second Excellency for Integrity, Presence, and Socialize. I have one social-fu Charm – Listener-Swaying Argument. I have no combat Charms aside from Dodge Charms, yet.


“Mundanely, I used to be an architectural designer, and was just about to start interning with Canada’s biggest construction company. My focus is sustainable design and retrofits. I’m pretty sure I can apply that knowledge to Creation. As for personal interests, I love cooking – particularly Italian, Indian, and Mexican – and wouldn’t be opposed to being ‘the cook’ of our little group. Though, I’m a vegetarian, so… I’ll leave the meat prep to someone else. I also love coffee and beer, to the point of ridiculousness and more than a little snobbery, but I’d love a simple cup of Guatamalan right about now, or, even better, a pint of real ale.â€


He paused again, thinking about a nice pint.


“I see my role as a courier and diplomat, if we ever make it to Creation. Here, in this Waypoint or Sanctum, I see my role as enforcing hospitality with whatever Spirits or Fair Folk we encounter, getting mortals to help us, and potentially sanctifying oaths…†he paused. “More on that later.


“I want to learn a Melee Excellency, if any of you know it. And then build a basic paranoia combo. I think we should all take that approach. We should teach each other Charms, especially perfects, so that everyone can build their own combos. If any of you know how to summon Elementals, or how to bind Demons, I know of several that I’d like you to summon so that I could learn Spirit Charms in the future.


“I think, as someone else mentioned, that this place is a ‘tutorial’. We’re learning who we are, how to co-operate, etc. I think we’re going to meet whatever brought us here, but only after a few more ‘educational’ challenges. I’d love to be able to learn a Charm or two from what brought us here, but I don’t know if that’ll happen. I don’t think we should take a confrontational approach to what brought us here though, until it becomes overtly hostile, but I’m sure we’re going to face a lot of hostile challenges before this tutorial is over.


“To address how to face that hostility, based on what I expect from our Caste roles, and from what I’ve seen from you all so far: I expect Syl, our resident Night Caste sniper, to scout, and in combat to fight at range. I expect our archer to fight at range as well. Jonathan, was it? I expect Nat, who I referred to as ‘the Invincible Sword Princess’, to always close in and fight up close. I promise I won’t make any more jokes at your expense. Or, I promise to try anyway. And I’ll back you up in close, now that I have a couple weapons. If we face mortal opponents, in numbers, I’ll use the Crown to get them to stop fighting, so we can be assured that we’re either going to face Essence-using opponents, or mundane opponents in small numbers. Basically, we can ignore War and War Charms for now. Meanwhile, especially against single opponents, we should focus on surrounding our targets and using our ranged fighters to inflict unexpected attacks, while up close fighters use Defend Other actions and perfect defenses to protect the rest of our Circle. Of course, we'll be fighting too.


“I don’t know what strengths and weaknesses the rest of you posses, but I’d suggest that you volunteer that info and how you fit into a front-line or support role in combat. And your out-of-combat strengths too, of course.â€


He pauses again, taking a deep breath once more.


“Lastly, we’re all going to be affected by the Great Curse. I don’t know how I’m affected by it yet, nor how any of you will be, though I expect our argument was probably a bit of a preview. First Age Solars fell victim to a lot of paranoia, in part fueled by the Curse, in part fueled by their own egos. I suggest we use our knowledge and powers to forestall the effects of the Curse as much as possible. For my part, I can sanctify an oath of loyalty and friendship between us, supernaturally bolstering our trust of each other. If ever we end up in a confrontation, especially one fueled by Limit Break, acting against each other will essentially become unacceptable orders or actions.


“If our resident sorcerer ever learns Sworn Brotherhood’s Oath, I suggest we use that too.â€


He sighs, and nods twice.


“Well, that’s it. That’s who I am, what I think, what I expect, how I think I can spur some co-operation, and how to prevent some crazy-ass Solar betrayal. Thanks for listening, and if anyone has anything else to say, feel free.


“Oh, and if anyone can shape a pint of Black Oak Nut Brown or C'est What Caraway Rye ale, that’d be great.â€

This was the second time today he was setting people down from a whirlwind he had called into existence. The experience was, needless to say, intense. But then, everything about today had been intense. He'd wrestled some kind of prawn from out of a horror movie or something, for Sol's sake.
Sol... He recalled the vision he'd gained with perfect clarity. More than anything else, if he could remember that about today, hold on to it, he wouldn't give it up for all the normality life had to give to him. He supposed never, ever, having the chance to be normal again was a Sacrifice in the terms laid out in the White Treatise.


Oh, Sol, that was another thing, too, the things he remembered, perhaps from past lives? He couldn't say; what he could say was that it was completely and utterly confusing to think of the White Treatise both as a supplement sold by a company that, to all intents and purposes here, did not seem to exist, and as the actual factual artifact, the immaculate script of Old Realm unfolding in his head, explaining the mysteries long since lost to the Ages. So usually, he stayed quiet.


He gave his report along with the other scout, and when Pete had said his piece, he stood up. "Hi, I'm Andrew and I'm a Solar Exalt."


He paused as if waiting for some chorus of voices that never came. Instead, he plugged on. "I was on the ECR forums, too. I was Fabricati there, and it's as much my name as any other I have. It's still not a good name, though. Eh, I'll think about it and it'll come to me."


"Aaaanyway, I'm from California. I lived a stone's throw away from The Industry. I lived even less than that to a version of the Industry that is quite a bit less savory." He shrugged. "I didn't see what the big deal was. In fact, I don't see what the big deal is now. We're here. We should get used to it."


He starts illustrating with his hands, moving animatedly as he walks around the group talking excitedly. "I mean it's Creation! One of the biggest single places around you can get without cheating and saying the Universe is a single place. Never mind that we're in the Wyld or whatever."


"Someone said earlier they thought it was odd they became a Solar; they thought they'd be a Lunar. I'm a little like that too, I guess; before, I was more interested in protecting myself and occasionally others than doing what I wanted to do. Myself a lot more often than others." He pauses. "There's a joke there, but I'm... Not sure what it is. Something to do with gentlemen and protection or something. Arrrgh! It's right there! I know it is-" He interrupts himself to try and think of it, snapping his fingers a few times in irritation.


"Bah, I've lost it. Oh, well. Let's see. Uh, Caste and Favored abilities..." He closes his eyes for a moment, as if watching a movie screen. "Okay. Aside from the Zenith Suite of 'I'm Not Going Anywhere' abilities, I seem to have a few odd ones; I suppose I learned Ride when I learned to, well, ride. I think I had Bureaucracy somehow. I know how not to fall off a boat. Pity I don't know anything about how to stay in one. I could always carry a tune. I picked up a bit of the martial arts here and there but nothing like I've been able to do now. About the only odd one out, really, for me, is Stealth, I guess. It's just sort of... I dunno, sitting at the back of your mind like the mold on a neglected bowl of chili inside a refrigerator."


Andrew looks up at the stars. "Charms... I know Solar Hero Style to the Dragon Coil Technique, but not the Pillar Breaking Bl- Sledgehammer Fist Punch. I'm pretty sure I have the Overwhelming Essence of- Er, the First Excellency in- Martial Arts, too." Andrew shakes his head. "Hm. Interesting. I'm reaching for the more esoteric charm names automatically- I digress. I know three Resistance Charms- Durability of Oak, Spirit Strengthens the Skin, and the Iron Skin Concentration. The problem with that is, while Iron Skin Concentration is very good, I lack a perfect and so am pretty much boned. Sorry guys."


He sighs. "Of the spells I know... You've already seen one of the three, the Stormwind Rider. I also know the Invulnerable Skin of Bronze and the Emerald Countermagic. My guess is that I was either granted their knowledge by Sol himself- not impossible- or otherwise my personality was so suited to them that they've occurred to me naturally. I've also noticed I can speak Old Realm. Fluently."


Andrew smirks. "So I guess the turtle's the getaway driver, at least for now. Heh. Turtle getaway driver. I should write something about that sometime."


"Caste role... As a Zenith, I'm liable to learn Social-fu faster and better than the rest of you- no offence, Coyote- and my guess is that I'll be pursuing these, well, pursuits as quickly as I can manage. Though, I must admit, Coyote, that after hearing you I feel a little like Achilles chasing the tortoise-"


Chuckle. Snrk. All out laugh. "Chasing Tortoise! Of course!"


He sits down. "Uh... I'll just shut up now."

"You guys talk a lot like this normally? Or is this supernatural gift of gab brought on by the Essence?"
Natalie is sitting in the floor in the middle of the big room, sitting on the blade of her Grand Daiklaive - a motherfucking buster sword the size of a Cesna's wing - with the clear outline aura delinating the area of her Chaos-Repelling Pattern emblazoned on the floor beneath her.


She fingers the hem of her cloak, which is pulled around her fully, and sighs. "I'm glad you guys are taking this all in stride. I'm just sitting here, trying to focus on regaining the Essence I've spent, whilst meditating on how weird it is to have Essence, and trying very hard not to meditate on the fact that I'm in a completely different body than I was when I woke up this morning..."


She sighs, slumping her hand into her head. "Well, so much for the 'completely relaxed' eight motes an hour. The stone'll make that up anyhow." She clears her throat. "My name is Nathan. Nathaniel, in fact. Hebrew boy's name, means gift of God. My mother was such a wit." She scowls. "This morning, I was a fat bastard neckbeard nerd, and now I'm what looks to be a teenaged girl with the kind of body I'd have oogled and pretended I wasn't yesterday afternoon. Funny how that goes, huh?"


She grumbles slighly, and lays back, staring at the ceiling. "Anyway, well... This is all very, very disturbing. I'm from New Jersey, I was working with the Census, and have few skills to speak of. The only things I really enjoyed - besides, yanno, video games, RPGs, and pornography - were writing, and driving my Durango, whilst wishing the Durango was something better, like a Nissan Z-car, or a Porsche..." She sighs again. "So really, not much useful there. But now?"


The girl on the floor shrugs, sitting up again. "It's undeniable that I'm now a member of the Dawn Caste of the Solar Exalted. My favorite Caste, in fact. I've always had a hero complex, I guess now I've got the hero to go with the complex. Anyway, as should be obvious, I'm the unquestionable master of all the most redundant abilities in Creation; All four wars of 'hurting people and breaking things,' and the premier way of 'using a lot of people to hurt people and break things'... It's just so weird to be able to say I Favor any ability at all, let alone pinpoint them."


She rubs her eyes. "But, since I guess it's the thing to do..." The cloak's hood goes down, and the girl raises her hands, running them vigorously through her hair. "We know I know how to sword things. Fuck, even I don't really know how I know how to sword things, but I can sword things. Obviously, I also know Heavenly Guardian Defense; by extension that means I know Bulwark Stance, Dipping Swallow Defense, and a Melee Excellency, which is, I believe, the First.


"Other than that... Um, let's see, the others that I Favor are..." She closes her eyes, as if this information isn't coming easily to her - it's not. Her mind keeps wanting to drift to the fact that it's her mind instead of his.


"Integrity - Sol alone knows why, since I've never thought of myself as being particularly integral. Lore, which is nice, I guess, and Occult; also nice. Hey; I've Favored the two biggest XP sinks, Martial Arts and Sorcery. Yaaay." Sarcasm drips from her tongue. "I also favor Dodge - Sol, why? I can perfectly defend myself - literally - by swording things - and, um, Ride. Why I don't have Linguistics Favored, I don't know! I love writing. Maybe because there's not many Charms in the tree?"


She shrugs, murmuring, "it is a mys-tar-ee... Aanyway, Charms, Charms, Charms. I know the good old IPP, of course; you'd have to be mad not to have it. I have, um... The Second Presence Excellency. Do I Favor Presence? No, so fuck-knows why. Chaos-Repelling Pattern, of course, and it's a good thing, since we're in the middle of the fuck-all-sense Wyld."


Natalie sighs. "This really does feel like an SA meeting. I have Spirit-Detecting Glance, which is good for seeing the invisible, and Spirit-Cutting Attack; good for killing the invisible. But I'll need more Occult to pick up Ghost-Eating Technique so I can kill it for good... Oh, and I also have Reflex Sidestep Technique, which is probably why I Favor Dodge, but it's not going me a lot of good until I get it into a paranoia combo... And I don't think some of you are in the mood to wait around while I train that up."


Natalie slumps back, sighing. "So, that's that. I guess I'm the front-line "hit things really hard with swords" person... I guess it suits me. Remember back when that crab cut your chest, um... Crap, I'm not good with names; Andrew? Anyway, I just reacted. I hate seeing other people get hurt, so... Yeah. I was scared out of my mind, but then it hurt you, and I was all "Die, crabprawn-bitch!"


The girl laughs once, twice, weakly, and covers her eyes with her hands. "So, yeah. What the fuck, right? Aaanyway... Yeah. There we have it. Now, um..." She sighs. "I need to invent a custom Charm to extend the range of this Chaos-Repelling Pattern, don't I? Because otherwise, well... We'd better just haul the beds into this room, since it looks like we're bunking barracks style with me in the middle, since everyone presumably wants to be within range of my "can't shape this" feld... Heh.. Can't shape this..." She hums the first few bars of Can't Touch This by MC Hammer.


"Sol, I wish I'd had my iPod in my pocket. Argh. No music, nothing to type on, not even anything to write on, or with... Arrgh!" Natalie tugs her hair. "Okay, new action plan. Let's get the beds together. Jason, can you like, magic them into bunk beds so we can stack them up in this house's big room? Or, I dunno, hammocks or something? Bunk beds sounds good, anyway."


Natalie stands up. "I guess I'm a lot stronger now than I was, so I'll start pulling in the ones from the other houses. Shouldn't be too long. Just might need some help to wrestle them into the door."


She pauses at the door. "Oh, right. I posted on many a forum under the name ShadowDragon eight-six-eight-five; the Keychain forums included, which I guess were on the patternspider forums. Um... Was that ECR? I think so. Anyway, beds now, gab in an hour."

 

[FluffySquirrel]

Jonathan listens in somewhat quietly as some of the others speak, waiting politely for a lull in the conversation.


"Well.. seeing as we're doing proper introductions.. I'm Jonathan.. which also means gift from god, oddly enough.. FluffySquirrel on the forums.. .. also.. the fact that we all seem to be from the forums might be telling.. maybe Jukashi is secretly the last hidden primordial.. heh." He coughs a little. "Aaanyway.. sory for getting a bit riled up earlier.. I can get a bit moody sometimes.. and I'm very easy to rile up and not one to back down from arguments.. .. nothing personal about it anyway.. calmed down a bit now."


He mulls things over for a while. "So.. where to start.. Dawn caste obviously... which is possibly somewhat of a surprise.. but then.. from the sounds of things we were all kinda large, nerdy types anyway.. so maybe we've got more exalted along what we -could- be.. or would choose to be .. or something fate related like that.. used to be a web developer anyway, but now I guess my main job will be shooting things.. not surprised that I'm an archer, as I knew how to do that in real life.. uhh.. Earth.. rather... sorry, hard to not think of exalted as a game. Anyway, English.. as you can probly gather.. hmm.. favoured abilities.. presence.. survival.. craft, lore and dodge by the feel of things.. "


"Let's see.. charms.. I got an archery excellency, there is no wind, accuracy without distance, essence arrow.. integrity protecting prana, presence excellency, hardship surviving mendicant spirit. " he frowns a little as he says that one. "Monkey Leap.. dodge excellency, shadow over water.. .. getting somewhat of a self suffiency and protective vibe there.. which is probably about right, I tend to be a bit of a loner at times" he scratches his head a little.


"Anyway.. making some kind of protection pact so we can't attack each other during limit might be a good idea yeah.. .. though.. I'd put in a proviso that it only counts while we're solars.. .. let's be honest, there's a good chance if anyone finds out about us, that they'll try turn us.. not to be too down about it, but it's worth considering anyway."


"As far as combat and roles go.. I seem to be pretty good at dishing out large amounts of damage.. but it pretty much makes me haemorrhage essence.. so I'll probably have to start saving up the big attacks for worthwhile opponents.. still getting used to it at the moment."


He sighs, trying to think of anything else important that needs saying. "Should we talk about plans for the future?.. or .. .. hmm.. ..hang on.. just a thought, but wasn't there some kind of occult based ritual, prayer or other type thing which could detect where the nearest wyld was?.. geomancy most likely.. would sure be nice to know whether we are in the wyld or like one of the others said, just a large sanctum or reality machine'd area of some kind." he peers at the two twilights, curious if they know anything like that.

 

[Andoriol]

((Note, from here on, if you see a single set of parentheses within the quotation marks of a sentance, assume I'm muttering like Edwin from Baldur's Gate. A normal person probably wouldn't understand what I said unless they had good hearing or were pretty close, but we're Solar's, as long as you aren't twenty feet away, you should be able to hear it just fine))


"Hn... well, ah... call me Jason," the brown haired Twilight glanced over at the others as he set aside his knife and began adjusting his materials, "And since, well, everyone else is having their little rants, I guess I'll take mine..." he paused as he glared at the cloak he'd made for himself for a moment before tossing it around his shoulders.


"I'm... not really good at talking about myself... there's nothing really... well, there wasn't really anything interesting about me until today, and even then it's a maybe..." he trailed off as he checked the straps and junctions on one of the backpacks before moving on to the next, "Well, I'm a... was, a college student, and while I'm not entirely convinced that this isn't some crazy hallucination, acid trip, or shared psychosis or somesuch, the odds are rather heavily in the favor of this being the real deal and us being royally fucked..."


He shook his head a bit as he moved on to the next backpack, "Anyways, I don't really have much going for me, I don't really have any special skills, made money by doing yardwork for family..." he glared at a buckle of one of the last backpack he'd made, reaching out and bending it into place with his hands, "... I'm a nerd, but not a really hardcore one, I only heard about Exalted through Keychain of Creation and only recently got into it... hell, I'd only had the core book for a week or two before I got yoinked out of there and tossed here... (where ever here is)."


Shaking his head once again, he began arranging the materials that were being brought to him, "Anyways, I..." he sighed, "I'm honestly more of a 'don't get into the fight in the first place' kinda guy. I enjoy physical exercise but, hell, I've never been good at fighting of any kind... now though, I... ah... what's a good way to put it?" his eyes scrunched up for a moment before he scowled, "Tch, I... I can feel the dots I've got in Archery, Melee, Martial Arts, and War... though not much in anything..."


"I've got... hell, I dunno," he flopped back onto the floor and closed his eyes, drawing his thoughts inward, "I've got... some athletics charms... those come to mind first, go faster, balance on everything, and... an excellency... For Craft I've got something that just feels like 'use power through me and win' so I think it's the second excellency, and obviously I've got Craftsman Needs No Tools (which if I didn't have, I wouldn't be much of Twilight now would I?). I think I've got an active resistance charm, Durability of Oak if I remember right, and I know I've got something I saw on the new errata that's a permanent soak enhancer (thank Sol)... I've got another 'win' ability with Survival, so I think it's the second excellency, and I know I've got the Friendship with Animals thing. I've... I've got a Martial Arts charm, I think it's the first one in Solar hero style... Fist of Iron I think...? Anyways, I think I can cast spells, though... I don't know any at the moment..."


He snorted as his eyes opened, "Fuck... that... that doesn't sound very good, I don't have any specialties in combat at all, and all I've got is a knife and gloves to hit things... shit," he sighed, "I... I'm probably going to be hit and run for now, run up, punch the guy, get the fuck out of the way kind of thing. If I can, I'd like to pick up a Martial Arts excellency and some spells from you guys before I go my way. Honestly, I'm more of a 'fix or build' kinda guy right now..."


He paused for a moment as he stared at his materials, "Speaking of which... could someone get me... ah, one, two... three..." his eyes closed as his voice trailed off, "About... three per person... three people to... five... and there's two per bed... two of those too and... um," his eyes scrunched up tightly, his brow furrowing as he seemed to move numbers around in the air with his fingers, "Five... ten... three per person and an extra... and... okay... that, might actually work."


His eyes snapped back open, "Kay, I have an idea, Nat, and yes, I call the guys I know named Nathanial that, one of your big issues with sleeping outside are the bugs, right? And I know that someone else was voting we stay because there's stuff here to use right? Comforts and all? Well, here's a compromise, I can make sleeping bags and waterproof, zip up tents with a couple knives and the stuff stripped from five beds, sheets, blankets, pillows, pillow-cases, the works. Five beds and accompanying items per three person tent, three of us, we need to strip fifteen beds to make get a full three tents, clothing can work in the place of sheets if there aren't enough beds left in the town. The tent keeps out the creepy crawlies, the sleeping bag provides comfort and warmth, and those of us uncomfortable with this place can get our butts out of here. Either way, we'll want those tents."

 

[ShadowDragon8685]

((Single-parens mumbling... Good idea, I think I'll adopt it, too. ))


Nat sighed, rubbing her fingers over her eyes.


"Look, Jason, this isn't a haunted ghost town. There were no villagers who were 'disappeared' to make room for us," Nat says, gesticulating with her hands, "And there never were any." Natalie stands up, sighing.


"We're as safe in the buildings as we are anywhere else. Safer, really; out in the open, in a camp, we can be surrounded if anything does come," she points out, pantomiming a closing circle with her hands. "In these buildings, if something comes, they can only get in through the doors, (and maybe windows,) and if need be we can fall back to the stairs and face them from only one direction. In a camp, we can be surrounded, with no fallback. Besides, these houses weren't really built for the scale of Cthulu-prawns. They'd have trouble getting in the door, swinging their claws. (Of course, if I swing my sword in here, I'll be hacking out great chunks of wall, but nevermind that. We have more houses.)"


Natalie sighs, walking over. "I know it seems creepy. It's that way on purpose!" She shakes her hands in the air in front of her shoulders, then clenches her fists. "It's designed to freak you out! Whomever Shaped this island conjured it out of whole clothe; to play on our fears, on our misconceptions and our nerves. Are you going to let them win; let them chase us out of comfortable-enough accomodations, into camping in the wilderness, something very few of us are equipped for?"

 

[HowlingCoyote]

"I'm going to have to agree with Nat. While at first I was pretty creeped out by this empty little burg, it's no creepier than anywhere else on this island. It is more defensible though, especially if we take the time to bolster that a bit. We've already agreed to post watches, one of which has already begun, and that'll be a lot easier given the limited points of entry to a building compared to a camp. And I'm increasingly less inclined to think we're going to be attacked here.


"Also, a sturdy house keeps out the elements a lot better than a tent, and a bed is more comfortable than a sleeping bag. We'll no doubt need to be using them soon enough, so a night to rest a little more comfortably isn't bad."

 

[Jaksio]

With keeping guard duty on the rooftop I finally manage to get enough solitude to think this whole situation he found himself. But it wasn't that easy it looked like. To garter my thoughts and put them in order I tied to write them down in dairy with use of pencil, both items I manage to find during salvaging trip around village. But only thing that was written down was Earthly date 17.04.2010. In other words i stuck. Now that most of the tension started to fade away from him I realized how hungry and thirsty I am. Also i manage to catch some parts of conversation my companions had. So in the end I gave up on creating log in the note and decided to join then for short while only to garb something to eat and drink, plus introduce myself. When finally i manage to get down Pete, or Howling Coyote as he wanted to be called, just ended his talk with Nathaniel/Natalie/Nay or Invincible Sword Princess' about strategic position of sating here in this house.


"Besides" he started talking in moment he walk through the doors " Changing our decision now will create disorganization. Disorganization is invisible enemy we need to take care of. So I think e should stay here. At least till we will be prepared for journey on longer distances."


He looks at Pete." Oh and I'm sorry for abandoning my post but I realized that I haven't eat and drink whole day and I couldn't concentrate." I walk inside pantry only to get out from there after few minutes back with large basked full of food and some drinks." I bet you guys are hungry too, so I'll prepare something for you all. Ok?"


I put basket on the table and face my 'Anonymous Solar Group' and clear my throat " Oh and by the way I think I'll also introduce myself properly."


I scratch my neck nervously. "Where to start? I never was good in this...Ok. First. My name is Sylvester. You can call me Syl, no titles required. And I'm from Poland, thats make me only foreigner person in our group. If I have some problems with expressing myself in English then I'm sorry in advance. Talking in English longer than few hours can be tiring to me before i get used to it. So try to bare with it."


I start puling out contents of the basket, on what i think is the kitchen table." Back on Earth i was normal nice guy who liked to spent some time in calm and easy environment. I'm not the people type. Actually i was quite solitude person or nerd if you like, that enjoyed good book, video games or spend some time on Internet. I also like RPG but it was hard to find someone willing to play with so i end up mostly enjoining reading about setting and collecting books instead playing it." I sight slightly relived. I'm on good path for now let's keep going.


"As you know I Exalted as Night Caste. With rifle. So my role will will be scouting and sniping. And if i get used to my powers maybe spying. And my skills... How to explain it . I just know what i can do but not as dots or numbers. But I will try to explain it best i can." Close my eyes and rub my brow with fingers.


" I think i have favored Integrity and Archery and... yes, i think it's Investigation and Occult I suppose. Oh! And the last one is Socialize to my surprise. I never was very social from beginning." After finishing i look around for some dishes and knife. I fail miserly. Where the hell is knife?


After short pause during with i glance in direction of Jason I continue." Where was I? Oh yeah. Next are Charms was it? Well let's see. Strange feeling to recognize use of those. They are like essence patterns that create possibilities of effects..."


I again close my eyes trying to look inside of my minds to recognize powers that reside in me." I think i know charm to increase my chance in use of long range combat and detecting with use of senses. So that's must be First excellency in Archery and Awareness. And a some kind of sure win against brainwash so this is probably Second Excellency in Integrity. Two hiding charms that are know as Easily Overlooked Presence Method and Invisible Statue Spirit. Powerful protection against shaping, that's must be Integrity Protecting Prana, Also some booster to my unshakable believes, Temptation-Resisting Stance That must be it. Phew. It's harder to recognize then that you may think. I also have slow motion vision so this must be Panoptic Fusion Discipline. And...Ugh. Well...Final ones are some avoiding physical harm powers. More powerful is perfect defense Seven Shadows Evasion, so the weaker must me Shadow Over Water. Ald last but not leat is key to any doors, Lock-Opening Touch. And that's all. No wait! There is something there. But i don't think it's charm. Some kind of.."


I snap my fingers i hope this will action will make me to find proper word for this."... I don't know. Spider sense of some kind, like Spiderman i think. Mutation? No. More like a gift or something like that. It's not a drawback."


I stretch my arms like after some physical labor. Damn i need some rest. I lost to much essence and my mind is also exhausted after use of some powers. " Well thats all from my capabilities. But i want to tell you what i think about pact between us. While I think that using Sworn Brotherhood spell it's good idea that use of eclipse pact it's not so much. We don't know how limit break wil affect us. There is possibility that we will be ready brake any oath we sworn no mater what consequences will await us. Besides this will be not sight of trust but opposite. By agreed on something like that we will show that we can't trust each other and ourself. Also there is always chance that someone might turn us against each other, even unintentionally and we will meet with punishment. Eclipse Pact is not something we should trust or use weary easily."


I look left and right like before walking cross the street." And there is one final mater. I want to ask you all one thing. Would you kindly help me find pot, pan, dishes and other kitchen stuff while i start fire under stove? Or maybe you prefer go to sleep without dinner?" I smile playfully.

 

[Andoriol]

Jason shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he did, feeling the beginings of a headache coming on, "Alright... let me try and explain this better, or at least explain my reasoning here..."


Picking up his golden knife, the Twilight headed back to the 'kitchen' of the house they were in and called out, "Syl, don't worry about dinner, I'll take care of it..." ((Asharu explicitly said there was food being kept fresh by some supernatural means, so we don't have to worry about that, though I'll definitely make/help make dinner out of the available stuff, seeing as I've turned most of the knives into other stuff already ( ops: ) and I have an artifact knife))


"Here's what I know, as logically as I can and with what little info I've got, here's the situation," he began to cut available bread into slices for sandwiches, "We're making a lot of assumptions with little evidence to back it up, not that we have a lot of evidence in any case, but we're still making a lot of assumptions."


"Like, where we are. We don't know where we are, we're just assuming that this place is like, Northrend was it? We're just assuming this place has similar geography, we're also assuming that this place is in Creation somewhere when there hasn't been anything to support or refute it." Jason scowled some as he paused for a moment in his work, "We can be reasonably certain that we're Solar Exalted (or a close enough analogue that it doesn't matter), and due to the sudden appearance of animal sounds when the lack of them was brought up as well as the whole giant face thing and getting yoinked from our homes and tossed here... it seems a reasonable assumption that this place is either entirely, or at least mostly under some powerful beings control."


Jason cut a particular peice of bread hard enough to make his blade thunk as it hit the table beneath it, "That said, we do not know if this is the Wyld, there have been no random mutations we have witnessed, no random chaos or flagrant disregard of the laws of physics and cassualty, merely indications of the intelligent shaping of reality. There's a difference. We also have no way of knowing whether or not the controlling force here made this place from nothing, took over an already existing island, or something in between."


Scowling a bit as he shoved the sliced bread aside and moving to cut up the other available foodstuffs, Jason continued, "That said, my gut agrees with you that this is the Wyld, and I trust my gut. My gut doesn't agree that this place was shaped from nothing by whatever is playing with us, entirely to play with us. Back in that underground city... thing, that we were in, Syl and I found a library, in the library were books in what I'm assuming was Old Realm that were basically how-to books for building warstriders as well as the differences in ratios between the sizes of things and how they affected Essence flow, the books seemed a whole lot like a Twilights library, lending credence to the theory that we're in Creation, but also making me think that this Island was made by either a particularly powerful Twilight, or a circle of Solars that wanted a retreat or home," he nodded at the artifacts the others had, "Giant ass daiklaves and other artifacts considered, it seems unlikely that all this stuff was for a single Twilight, ergo the assumption that this place was a home for a full Circle."


Focusing back on the task at hand, Jason kept working as he spoke, "Thus, my theory is that this island is in Creation and was home to a full Circle of Solars that either died before or during the Usurpation. But, when the invasion of Fair Folk thing happened and reduced the size of Creation considerably, this place, once a perfectly normal part of Creation, was brought into the bordermarches... once that happened... something, moved in. I'm thinking it's a Fair Folk, but I don't really have the evidence to support this and while my gut is leaning that way, it's not enough that I won't consider a Primordeal, Yozi, God, or other some such thing. This something, for its own amusement (and possibly other reasons), yanked us from our world and dumped us here."


"That's my theory, at least, and my analysis of the situation as I've seen it and with the information that I've been given," the Twilight sighed a bit as he set the now sliced food-stuffs out, "And here's what I'm thinking we should do about it and why: This town, as useful as it is, could very well be a or even the seat of this things power, whatever it is that screwing with us, and the island itself is probably dangerous on several levels. Thus, I'm of the definite vote of not wasting much time and getting the hell off this island and the hell out of here till we've settled into what we are more. I'm not really... adverse... to staying the night here, I don't like it and my gut is very much against it, but there's little logical reason not to take advantage of the beds and such while we have the chance (as long as we have someone watching over us at all times and we stay in the same house). But despite all my logic and inclinations to using the scientific method, I'm still very much of the disposition to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. "


"It could be that this place is no more dangerous than out there, but I'd feel more comfortable out there with room to haul ass if bad shit goes down rather than bottling us up in a single spot. Bottle-necks go both ways."


"Now, admitidly, I find a sleeping bag, pillow and tent just as comfortable as a queen-sized bed with wonderful scented pillows and shit, so my utter... disregard for the comforts of 'home' is probably a personal thing. I definitely agree that we should scavange as many resources from here as we can so that I have the raw materials to make other crap out of later... but I'm really not liking the thought of staying here."


Turning away from the table, Jason cleaned off his golden knife as he addressed everyone present, "While I might be willing to give this place a night's rest after all that craziness today and all the stress. That's all I'm willing to give it. I do not want to stay here more than one night. We can strip everything we could concivably need from this place by the end of tomorrow at the latest and stuff it into backpacks, I might not be done putting all the materials together by then, but we can get going and out of here... a major reason I feel like that is that I don't want us to risk staying here 'just until this-' or 'we'll leave when he gets done with this-' or any of that procrastination crap. Can we honestly trust ourselves not to get complacent if we stay here too long? To just stay here until something decides to try and kill us?"


Jason shook his head, "I don't want to risk it, I know myself well enough that if I get into a rut, it'll be hard to get back out. I don't want to get too dependant on this place only to have the controlling entity decide its had enough fun and then let us find out this place is its mouth or something. No, just... no. I'm saying we leave here by sunset tomorrow at the latest, preferably earlier."

 

[HowlingCoyote]

"I'm not in favor of procrastinating either. I want to get out there and find out where we are for real, and who's behind bringing us here. Your theory makes sense, Jason, but it's still based on a lot of assumptions, and until we determine where we are and who brought us here, we'll be endlessly debating the possibilities. By tomorrow, we should have this place picked clean and converted to whatever we can use. After that, we can start trying to determine some facts about this place.


"For starters, I'd like to get up somewhere that has an unobstructed view of the horizon, and find out if we can see the Imperial Mountain. Find out if we're actually in Creation, and if so, where. Armed with that knowledge, we can start reaching some reliable conclusions."

 

[FluffySquirrel]

"Well said" he says after Jason has finished talking. "I agree with pretty much everything you said.. and besides" he turns towards Pete. "Even if they are assumptions too.. they're good, well thought out ones .. and besides, which is worse, leaving early and not getting to sleep in a bed for a few nights, or staying longer and having who knows what happen?.. in terms of sacrifices.. I'd rather take the risk of just leaving as a priority."

 

[Andoriol]

"I'm completely for that plan as long as we don't send out a scouting party to do it, but leave as a group (being able to see a mountain that big would definitely let us assume this is Creation)," Jason stared at his reflection in his knife for a moment, "I just don't want us to use this place as a base of operations... if we really are Solars (and I only say if out of a lack of ways to prove it, not out of any beleif that we aren't Exalted) we don't need this kind of place, we can make our own base of operations."


He paused for a moment before stabbing the knife into the table and letting it stick up, "I'm definitely making assumptions with my proposed plan, as are you, but the theory fits the evidence and the plan seems to be the best one considering the situation."


He held up a hand as he rubbed his temple, "So, just to be sure we're all understanding the plan, the proposed one at least, it's: Stay here for the night with a rotating watch and rest up from the crazy shit of today. In the morning, we finish stripping this place of anything useful as well as any raw materials I, and anyone else with Craftsman Needs No Tools, can use to make crap. Once this place is cleaned out, or it starts to get later in the day, whichever comes first, we head out as a group to the highest spot we can feasibly reach to see if we're really in Creation as well as to try and get a layout of this island. Then we go from there."


"Did I miss anything or get it wrong?"

 

[Jaksio]

" It's pretty much all. And if i can add my two cents. If you thought that i planed to stay here more than one night then you were terribly wrong. In the moment i saw that evil smiling face and this 'greeting' on my reconnaissance i hated this place. I won't stay here longer that tomorrow noon. But we simply need proper rest and supplies before acting further. After diner I will pack some food, spice ( those don't take much space and can always make every meal tastier) and necessary minimum we might need on our journey in case of sudden need or escaping from here. The rest of the things we will ,as you said, make or find later."


" Oh, and one more thing. Lets don't get overconfident with our powers. We might be powerful but we still mortal. I don't want to watch someone die because he got to cocky. We still need to learn how properly use our new talents."

 

[ShadowDragon8685]

Natalie sighs, dropping her head into her hands, fingers spread so as not to cover her eyes, shaking her head.


"You want to get out of here. I get that. I'm down with that; you think I like this island? I don't."


Natalie flops back onto the lower bunk of the upper bed. "That said, do you guys have any idea of just how long and how much labor is involved in shipmaking? I am not a sailor - none of us are. We're not Costner, this is not Waterworld, we cannot attempt an ocean crossing in a soldamned trimaran. We need a ship, something big and heavy enough that it can tolerate errors and slowness on our parts."


"Ships take years to build. Hundreds of laborers working directly on them; thousands involved, directly or indirectly. I can hew through trees in a few blows, but I can't drag a tree to the dock. I don't see any Yeddim or draft horses or anything standing around for us to use, either. Let's look at this reasonably."


She clears her throat. "We're in a place that, for lack of a better name, I'm going to call the not-Sholazar Basin, or just the Sholazar Basin because it's too weirdly similar not to be. This is a jungle of vast, gigantic trees that would fit in well in the Southeast, in the middle of what is almost certainly the Northwest. There's lots of other, lighter trees here. We could work the lighter trees easily enough, I suppose; they're small enough that the eight of us together can haul them. But even if we haul them up and out of the Basin, we'd have to haul them all the way to the south shore of the not-Borean Tundra to the south of us to get them into a position for building a ship, and I don't think that the local non-megalithic trees would be all that good for shipmaking. In fact, I'd say they might be suitable for those trimarans, but I am not sailing the Western Ocean in a glorified canoe."


She pauses a moment. "That leaves the other side of the Island; the not-Howling Fjord and the not-Grizzly Hills. Both are forrested, with much more suitable trees. They're temperate - not pleasant like this, but temperate. And, as an added bonus, cold enough that there wouldn't be much in the way of insectoid vermin to make me freak out. There's three good coastal places to even begin a shipbuilding project, too;


The first is the place that would be the Tuskarr village of Kamagua, if this were in fact World of Warcraft. It's on the southwestern edge of the Fjord, and while it is iced, it's on the edge of the ice zone, and has a gentle slope up into wooded areas that could aid in getting logs down there. The second is the, bah, the goblin shipyard port that's a PvP area in World of Warcraft. The name escapes me, but it was a shipyard for a reason; the lay of the land supported it. The third is the eastern coast of the Grizzly Hills, east of the Alliance camp. Again, forested slope down to a coastal area."


Natalie sighs. "All of these places are likely to have uninhabited villages like this one. My gut is telling me that they were Shaped like this, and we're being fucked with. The place we're in now should be the Rainspeaker Canopy, a place of stick huts and a gigantic cathedral carved into that leviathan of a tree over there. But it's not, we're in this sort-of village... And we can probably expect more of the same. We're not going to find a good place for shipbuilding on this island that didn't have a settlement on it in WoW, which means it'll probably have a deserted, altered settlement on this island. And building a ship will take a long time, even if we all learn Craftsman Needs No Tools and jack our Essence up to 5. That still lets us only acomplish in one day the days' work of five men each, and eight times five is... Greh... (Stupid math.)"


Natalie swiftly gesticulates with her fingers, though not looking at them. "Forty. We'd have an effective labor force of forty. Shipbuilding took hundreds of men working for a year or more..."


Natalie sighs, scrubbing her fingernails through her hair again. "We're going to need more than ourselves to do this. We're going to need a labor force; maybe friendly locals, maybe we can use magic to conjure a labor force. Maybe we get some kind of magic that lets us perform the labor of far more than CNNT alone would..."


Nat lets out a huffing sigh again. "The point is, talking about getting off this damn island is running ten steps ahead of ourselves. We need more power. More magic. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a ship already waiting for us, but I doubt you'd trust it if we did... That leaves us having to construct a vessel..." Nat takes another breath.


"As far as that goes, how much do you know of Naval architecture? I... I sort-of know a lot (in passing, that is). I've read a fair few books that touch on it, we've all seen (I assume) Pirates of the Caribbean, maybe Master and Commander, and others like that... Whereas Creation's sailing technology is firmly rooted in Asian culture and amounts to either huge junks or galley-powered oars, between the eight of us we can probably recreate the Golden Age of Sail. That would at least give us an advantage in sailing the fuck out of here. But that doesn't begin to approach the problem of producing a sailing ship; how are we to make sails? The bedsheets here may be nice enough I'd risk them for a tent if the alternative was to sleep under the stars, but I'd not trust my life to them as sailcloth. What're we going to use for ropes, for tackle? We'll need metal for the thousand things on a ship that need to be made of metal to really work... It's going to be a mess."


She deflates. "What I'm saying is that we can't leave the island yet. We're not powerful enough, we don't have enough magic, enough stuff. We're going to have to scour this island. We'll need to pick a place to make our own base-camp, to start this shipbuilding stuff. But we're going to need to do more. We're going to need to go and search out Stuff worth finding..."


She looks up at Jason. "You said you think this place might've been inhabited by First-Age Solars? I'm not ready to agree; it's just as easy it could've been Shaped by an obliging master entity to make us feel - ha ha - at home... I'm not ready to disagree, though. I think we should go and look."


She sits up, and starts to point to the northeast. "We know that the ice-dome of Icecrown Glacier, minus the Citadel and the Scourge, is up there. But we've also found a settlement here that shouldn't be here, so all bets are off. However, just because they're off doesn't mean we shouldn't try them anyway. I suggest we go to the Storm Peaks, or the not-Storm Peaks, or - oh, fuck it. Excuse me a moment."


Nat clears her throat, and stands up, walking outside. In the middle of the square, she plants her feet, and loudly declares, "In the name of Sol Invictus I claim for my group of friends and companions the right to name this island and it's geographical features as we please!" She turns back to the group. "Fuck this 'not-' business. Anyway!" She siezes up the stick again, and sketches the island in the dirt. "This area, the Storm Peaks. If we're going to find Twilight activity, I'd bet ten bucks - if I had them - that this is where we'd find the real crux of it, in the places that should've been Ulduar. Gleaming gold, inscrutably ancient technology - that's Twilights for you. If we can find something useful there - automata we can command, magitech vessels that would render all this talk of shipbuilding moot - we'd be ahead of the game. Other than there, I'd suggest we look here." She draws her stick down, to the middle of the island. "In World of Warcraft, this is the Dragon Wastes, and the Dragonspire. If we're going to find any more old civilization stuff, I'd bet on some of it being here, too... Or, possibly; and I'm a bit leery of suggesting this - here." She draws her stick up. "Zul'Drak. The troll hangout in World of Warcrack, this was another site of strange civilization. We could try it, too, if we had to. And of course, there's the Utgarde places in the Fjord; they might be settled. I doubt we'd find obliging giants that we could make into our shipbuilding labor force, though if we could, we'd be set."


"So. You want to get off the island? We're not going to do it by just saying "lets run off and build a ship. That's bollocks. We need a plan, we need resources, we need materials. We need labor; or we need to luck into a premade ship. Time to get down to brass tacks. We need a way to do this. Let's look at them:


Labor is not going to be easy. We could try to conquer the Cthulu-Prawns. They don't look very good at laboring, but there's a city there; assuming it was not shaped (big assumption,) they must have a worker caste or something. Our Sorcerer can try and learn Swiss Army Knife of the First Circle, and bind demons to do the labor, or else try and make Elementals do it. We could luck out into an army of automata, or find and convince or cooerce locals to help us, if there are any.


Materials. We need wood, of course. I can hew the wood down, but we'll need to get it to the shore. If we can find animals, I can probably drive them, but that's another big if. If we can summon demons or elementals, again; we can do it that way. We need rope, sailcloth, metal, and the like. On that, it's up to you, Jason. I don't know.


And the ship's design. Let's leave that until we have an idea of what we can aquire and make work for us. Between us, with the power of Solar Memory and Solar Awesome, we can probably come up with something.


But, all of this is going to require we do things. We're going to have to explore. Where do you want to go first?"

 

[Andoriol]

Jason scowled some as he listened to Nat's... tirade? That was probably the best word, it wasn't unjustified, but it still struck an irritating chord in him. He promptly pushed the feeling aside as he knelt beside the map and scanned it, filing the bits of information away in his head as he listened.


When the Dawn finished, Jason rubbed his forehead as he proccessed, "Alright... I get what you're saying... just..." his eyes scrunched up and his brow furrowed, "Okay... let me think for a second..."


After a moment, his eyes opened and he glared at the map, "Okay... for the most part I understand and agree with you... just, if it's going to take a long time, we should get started sooner kind of thing. That said... gah, where to start...?"


He hunkered down beside the map in the dirt and rested his elbows on his knees, "Kay... materials for stuff like the sails, rope, and wood are a non-issue... it might take me a bit, but I can pull thread from a tree and then use that thread to make crude cloth or sturdy rope. It'd be two uses of my Craftsman Needs No Tools, but I can do it. I can also make the ship, it won't be a feat of naval engineering, and it can't be a full Galleon, but I know enough to build a two mast ship that could hold eight people comfortably. It won't be fancy, it won't be fast, but it'll be sturdy and it'll float perfectly fine (unless we hit a hurricane, but that'd fuck up a good boat anyways without Sail Charms...)."


His eyes narrowed as he stared at the map, "That said, I think you're overestimating the time it'd take to build this thing. We're not building a yacht, we're building a slightly big sailboat. It'll still take a considerable amount of time, several months probably. But not years."


"Admitidly, a big issue is getting metal for raw materials, and my rope and knot skills are a bit lacking. I can make the basic ship just fine, but I'll want someone else to at very least check my ropework, prefferably do it for me if they actually know what they're doing."


He took a long, careful breath as he ran over his list, "The actual design will have to wait until we know what we're working with. And getting a labor force would be ideal. That said, determining where we are is a priority. Getting somewhere high to get the lay of the land is a definite plan, from there, if we don't see any obvious points of intrest we should probably head to either that first place you suggested, the Twilight craziness place whatever its name, or that place you mentioned that was a natural harbor/ship-port, whatever (unless I'm overstressed and tired and missremembering that those are seperate places...)."


Blowing out a breath and shaking his head, Jason stood back up, one hand planted on his hip as he ran a hand through his defiantly spikey hair, "I'm still thinking this place was originally a Solar hideout that was repurposed by something, but I'm just thinking it, not stating it or... or, hell, I dunno, saying it's fact? Sol, it's just..."


He paused, "And I just said Sol in place of God naturally... fuck this shit is confusing..."


Shaking his head he continued, "Look... I just... I don't think it's likely that this place was shaped whole cloth, possible? Definitely. I just don't think it's the most likely scenario. The library Syl and I found was definite Twilight reference material, and these... artifacts I'm guessing, unless I don't remember my Exalted (something entirely possible all considered) would be much harder to just shape than anything else. It just, smacks of repurposed to me I guess... I can't point to much else other than that and a gut feeling... I, hell, you might've seen something that makes you think this place was shaped for us or you know something about the setting I don't... it's, gah... I just, with the info I've got, my assumption is that this place was a Solar stronghold before it was repurposed."


Letting out a huff and throwing up his hands in exasperation, "That doesn't really change the plan though does it? Whether this place was shaped from nothing or repurposed, it's still under the control of something else right now. And while we don't know of the level of control this thing has, it's probably got a lot. If this thing shaped the whole island from nothing, then it's at an absurd power level and there ain't much we can do about it. If it didn't, it's still crazy strong and we aren't going to be able to deal with it any time soon. But no matter any of that stuff, we still have to determine whether we're in Creation or not while trying to find obvious points of interest to go to. Then try to get off the island by building or finding a damn boat and all the bullshit that goes with that."


Realizing that he'd been getting steadily angrier as he'd spoken, Jason paused and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and shaking his head, "I just... nevermind, I've said my peice, I'm tired, grumpy, and irritated, and if I keep this crap up, I'm gonna make it worse. I'm going to make a sandwhich and sheath for my knife the old fashioned way until we decide what we're doing and what I need to start making."


With that, the brown-haired Twilight walked back to the mess of food-stuffs he'd sliced and started to do just that.

 

[HowlingCoyote]

"At first, I thought this place was shaped whole-cloth. I didn't know about the Twilight library though. Now, either option makes as much sense as the other. Doesn't really matter. I'm sure we'll find out where we are, and who we're dealing with, soon enough - speculating isn't really getting anywhere. Throw out options and possibilities for sure, just don't get attached to them. Needless arguments there.


"Also, before Nat, who suggested a boat? I mean, sure, it's a great idea when we get around to it, but exploring this island and using it as much as we can makes sense to me. We need to develop our powers, learn to co-operate, etc. Exploring the island is a good way to do that. Building a ship and leaving should come later.


"And, when we do build a ship, screw sailing. I love sailing, as a hobby, but I think the way to go would be a steam ship - easier to build, smaller, requires less crew, and a lot closer to the tech that we're used to. And I think we all know how to make steam.


"But first, just exploring the local area, and orienting ourselves in Creation - finding out if we're even in Creation - seems to me to be priority number one."

 

[Andoriol]

As Jason squished his sandwich down he blinked and shook his head, "Wait, what? A steam ship? With what metal? 'Cause I am not making a damn steam ship without making the entire engine out of metal at fuckin' least. Considering how little we actively know about how to build a steam engine the safety hazards wou-"


Forcing himself to stop, Jason shook his head and held up his hands in apology, "Wait, I'm ranting, sorry, I just..." he sighed, "Look, simply, a steam engine would be too dangerous when considering how little we know and how little metal we've currently got access to. I ain't making one unless I can find design plans for one or I have enough material and time to experiment. Just... no, okay? It's a good idea, something to work towards. But I'm not making one for us to leave, just... no."


Shaking his head, he turned back to his sandwich, "We can learn to co-operate and devlop our powers while we build the boat (which is the most viable way to get off this island), and any lagging behind I or any other CNNT users experience can be made up while on the boat. Building a ship will take a while, so we should start soon. However, I'm thinking we should determine if we're in Creation, explore any points of interest, and make a base of operations of our own near the coast from which to work. Some people working on the boat as the others explore, run patrols, all that. Get what I'm saying?"

 

[HowlingCoyote]

"Yep, I get it."


Pete smiles, enjoying the discussion, even if it ruffles some feathers.


"Also, I do know how to make a steam engine, and could draw up the plans for you. As soon as I have some paper and a pencil or something. A basic steam engine doesn't need a lot of metal, and the ship can be almost entirely wooden - I've restored wooden steamships before. But... we can get to all that later.


"Mind if I have one of those sammiches?"

 

[Fabricati]

"Well, for labor, I'm thinking elementals- we're in enough crap right now without relying on help from Malfeas." Andrew- Chasing Tortoise?- knelt down and started drawing odd symbols in the dirt with his finger.


"I think we'll want a sailing ship, at least at first. A lot depends on how quickly we want to leave and how badly Mister I-Control-This-Island is trying to screw us over. Otherwise, we need the tools to get the tools to make the tools... You get the idea. One possibility- and I'm surprised no-one's voiced this- is that whoever-it-is is actually trying very hard to make us feel welcome but has such an alien mindset and such little observational evidence that he smacks us right in the uncanny valley." He completed the circle, stared at it for a moment, then erased it in frustration and started over. "And it really doesn't help that I've never played WoW, or even seen a video besides the idiotic staged debacle that was Leroy Jenkins.


"In the meantime, I suggest that we start by seeing not just what is here, but who. Remember this guy apparently knows at least some Blizzard lore, even if he's apparently not an expert, so it'll be just as important to us as discovering what we have at our disposal." He left it at that, returning to drawing his circle.

 

[Andoriol]

Jason paused with sandwich in hand as Andrew finished, the frustration draining out of him with suprising rapidity, "That... about sums it up actually..." he stared at his sandwich for a long moment before handing it to Pete and setting about to make himself another, "I'm not willing to bank on it in any way... until we have considerable proof otherwise, I'm really not comfortable with treating this... thing for lack of better word, as benevolent. It's a possibilty, and one I didn't really consider, but it's also not one I'm really willing to act on right now."


As he layered his sandwich, Jason mused over the idea, "I'm definitely in favor of using elementals rather than Demons as much as possible. We really don't want to open that can of worms, no matter the setting, deals with the devils are bad juu-juu. And if we're using elementals... and you can make a safe steam engine... especially if we have enough metal..." his hands slowed as his mind picked up, his eyes darting back and forth, seeing the beginings of plans on the table in front of him.


Then he forcibly shook his head and pushed the thoughts away, "No, no, that comes after we determine how screwed over we are and what we've got to work with. After that we can really get down to the details of building a way out of here, until then, it's entirely supposition..."


Huffing slightly at himself, Jason finished making his sandwich, he glared at the bread and meat construct for a moment before shaking his head, "Bah, I'm overthinking this, I need to do something mindless, build something, sleep, eat, then build something again before I really do this..." biting into his sandwich, Jason walked back over to the pile of materials that had been gathered so far.

 

[FluffySquirrel]

Jonathan had been staying quiet during most of the argument brewing.. trying to avoid getting drawn in again and angry himself.


"I'm still with Jason all the way here.. and.. yeah, some of you seem to be thinking more along the lines of making the Black Pearl or something.. we don't need that you know.. we could make a small wooden skiff with a single sail and just some backup oars.. we're solars and we can take turns, we don't get tired as easily, the stairs already proved that.. hell, there's that guy who wanders around the entire west in just a one-man coracle.. making a galleon -would- take a long time, but we certainly don't need anything like that."


"As far as I'm thinking.. maybe something simple and mostly wooden, like a viking longboat.. we'd only need metal workings for what, a few of the rope rings, oar holders (if we don't just make holes for them) and the rudder. .. we can manage that fine.. hell, we could use stone if need be, with craftsman needs no tools it's not like we can't just work with any material, and stone's hard and solid."

 

[HowlingCoyote]

Removing any meat from his sandwich, Pete chimed in once again, "About a decade ago, I made a faering with a couple friends. It's basically a small Viking boat, with four oars, and room for a single mast. If we make something like that, a little larger, like a York boat, it would not take very long at all, given the Charms available to us. It's extremely easy to make, and very seaworthy.


"But, we still need to know were we are before we figure out where we're going."